Trade-offs in visual attention and the enhancement of memory specificity for positive and negative emotional stimuli.
Summary of "Trade-offs in visual attention and the enhancement of memory specificity for positive and negative emotional stimuli."
Emotional influences on memory can lead to trade-offs in memory for gist or detail and trade-offs in memory for central or peripheral aspects of an event. Attentional narrowing has often been proposed as a theoretical explanation for this pattern of findings with negative emotion. These trade-offs have been less extensively investigated with positive emotion. In three experiments, we investigate memory for specific visual details of positive and negative stimuli, examine central-peripheral trade-offs in memory, and assess the hypothesis that attentional narrowing contributes to emotional enhancement of memory specificity. We found that memory for details was enhanced by negative and positive emotion. Central-peripheral trade-offs were found in memory for negative emotional stimuli but not in memory for positive emotional stimuli. These trade-offs with negative emotion were associated with attentional narrowing at the time of encoding, as measured by eye movements. There were no attentional effects at the time of encoding found with positive emotional stimuli. Evidence was found for the attentional narrowing hypothesis of memory specificity and central-peripheral trade-offs in memory for negative emotional events. Alternative explanations for the positive emotional enhancement of memory specificity are required.
Affiliation
a School of Psychology , University of Nottingham , Nottingham , UK.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)
ISSN: 1747-0226
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22928471
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.707664
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A mental disorder associated with chronic ethanol abuse (ALCOHOLISM) and nutritional deficiencies characterized by short term memory loss, confabulations, and disturbances of attention. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1139)
Dementia, Multi-infarct
Loss of higher cortical functions with retained awareness due to multiple cortical or subcortical CEREBRAL INFARCTION. Memory, judgment, attention span, and impulse control are often impaired, and may be accompanied by PSEUDOBULBAR PALSY; HEMIPARESIS; reflex abnormalities, and other signs of localized neurologic dysfunction. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1060)
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An acquired organic mental disorder with loss of intellectual abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with social or occupational functioning. The dysfunction is multifaceted and involves memory, behavior, personality, judgment, attention, spatial relations, language, abstract thought, and other executive functions. The intellectual decline is usually progressive, and initially spares the level of consciousness.
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Complex mental function having four distinct phases: (1) memorizing or learning, (2) retention, (3) recall, and (4) recognition. Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory.
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A degenerative disease of the BRAIN characterized by the insidious onset of DEMENTIA. Impairment of MEMORY, judgment, attention span, and problem solving skills are followed by severe APRAXIAS and a global loss of cognitive abilities. The condition primarily occurs after age 60, and is marked pathologically by severe cortical atrophy and the triad of SENILE PLAQUES; NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES; and NEUROPIL THREADS. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp1049-57)
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